Seamless Sportswear
Design and Fabrication
Jin Yun Zhou,Jimmy Lam and YI LI
Institute of Texitile and Clothing,The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University,Hung Hom,Hong kong
15/08/2008
Seamless Sportswear Design and Fabrication
1. Introduction of seamless Knitting technology
2. Design in terms of color
3. Design in terms of functions
4. Stitch design
5. Application and examples of seamless sportswear
6. Future directions of seamless sportswear technology
1.Introduction of seamless Knitting
technology
• Double needle bar warp knitting
Front needle bar and needle bar knit the front and back panels respectively,
the middle jacquard bar connects them to form the seamless garment.
• Computerized flat knitting
The yarn knits on front and back needle beds in turn to form tubular fabric.
The complete garment was formed by stitch move.
• Body size circular knitting
The cylinder needles knit the tubular fabric. It could be formed garment by
simple cut and sew.
RDPJ 6/2 Double needle bar raschel machine with piezo-jacquard
system for the production of jacquard seamless garment
The complete garment knitted on computerized flat knitting machine
At the start the elements
sleeve/body/sleeve are knitted next
to each other. A separate yarn carrier
is required for each element.
After the body and sleeve elements
are joined together, knitting is
continued with only one yarn carrier
Seamless garment by body size circular knitting technique
Santoni SM8-top2s
Special features of SM8-top2
•
•
•
•
Electronic needle and yarn finger
selection
Digital control of yarn input tension
Digital stitch length control through
graphic design
Cylinder: 14 inch, machine gauge 28G
Procedure of seamless sportswear design and fabrication
Procedure of seamless sportswear design and fabrication
Function Line
Function block
Stitch
colors
Procedure of seamless sportswear design and fabrication
2.Design in terms of color
• Horizontal striper
Horizontal striper effect can be achieved by changing yarn carries in sequence.
• Jacquard
The same course is knitted by different yarns through needle selection. The
floating yarn on back side is shorted by tuck to form an even surface.
• Mock intarsia
The same course is also knitted by different yarns and the floating yarns on
back side were cut by round knife
Design in terms of color
Horizontal striper effect can be achieved by changing yarn
carries in sequence
Design in terms of color
The same course is knitted by different yarns through needle selection. The
floating yarn on back side is shorted by tuck to form an even surface.
Design in terms of color
The same course is also knitted by different yarns and the
floating yarns on back side were cut by round knife.
3. Design in terms of functions
Function design for seamless sportswear knitted on
body size circular knitting machine
1. Moisture Management (sweat control)
2. Thermal management (heat dissipation)
3. Pressure management (muscle power)
Design in terms of functions
1. Moisture Management (sweat control)
Moisture Management Fabric improves the sweat expelling effect. It
can be designed and fabricated by the application of:
a. Functional yarn (combination and distribution of hydrophilic or
hydrophobic fibers in fabric, capillary attraction benefited from special
cross section) (coolmax, pp, tactel)
b. Fabric structure (plating for single jersey, sandwich structure for
double jersey)
Design in terms of functions
2. Thermal management (heat dissipation)
Dynamic heat control by power net:
a. Elastic yarn or fiber (Lycra, XLA, PTT)
b. Mesh structure (mesh size and distribution)
Design in terms of functions
3. Pressure management (muscle power)
Fabric stretch properties design
a. Yarn (yarn elasticity)
b. Stitch structure (miss stitch distribution and density)
c. Knitting parameter (loop length, elastic yarn pre-elongation)
4. Stitch design on single jersey seamless machine
Knit
Tuck
miss
mesh
Stitch combination on SM8-top2s
1.Plain stitch + mesh
4.Plain +tuck with two colors plating
2. Plain stitch + tuck
5.Plain +miss +tuck
3.Plain +mesh with two colors plating
6.Sharp Pattern
5.Application and examples of
seamless sportswear
• Color design (Logo)
• Function design (moisture, thermal and pressure)
Rowing wear
Function block
colors
Stitch
rowing wear
6.Future directions of seamless
sportswear technology
•
•
•
New material application and finishing. (staple yarn for warp knitting,
functional fiber…)
Novel knitting technique. (more flexible combinations of function design and
color design, application of flat knitting technique in seamless sportswear
design and fabrication)
Equipment (Fine gauge for double jersey machine to expend the extent of
function and color design compare to single jersey machine)
Thanks!